Personal Injury & Medical Negligence

At Blackadders, our expert personal injury solicitors will help you if you have suffered an accident or injury that was not your fault.

Our team will keep you advised throughout the claims process until you receive the compensation you deserve. It is our business to do everything we can to provide you with a quick and beneficial outcome.

Our specialist personal injury solicitors have years of experience and you can rely not only on our expert advice but also our support. We specialise in "No Win No Fee" claims and will discuss this and other funding options at your free initial consultation.

Please call a member of our personal injury team today to find out whether or not you can make a compensation claim.

We will have a chat with you about the facts of your claim, and if it seems like a good case, we will ask you to sign our "no win no fee" agreement. We then issue a letter of claim to the responsible person and try to settle the claim as quickly as possible.

If settlement cannot be achieved, we then discuss with you the possibility of going to court. This is the point where the clients of traditional firms of solicitors usually give up, because they are warned that if they lose the court case, they could be ordered to pay the winning side many thousands of pounds in legal costs. Few people can take that risk. But, because we are accredited specialists in Personal Injury claims at Blackadders, we are able to offer a special insurance policy which will pay the other side's legal costs if you lose. The premium for this policy is only payable at the end of the case, and only then if you win. The only requirement is that your case must, in our opinion, have decent prospects of success.

Accordingly you can take your case to court in an entirely protected position, and have fair compensation awarded by a judge or jury. You will never be pressurised into accepting an unsatisfactory offer.

Your case will be handled throughout by one of our qualified solicitors, who would give you a dedicated personal service, and will always be available to answer your questions. You will never feel like part of a production line.

Our areas of expertise include:

Accident at Work
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A huge amount of the accidents we hear of every year in Scotland happen at work. They can be due to unsafe machinery, an unmopped slippery floor, an order to lift a heavy weight without the proper equipment or training, etc. There are many Health & Safety regulations applying to workplaces which are frequently broken by employers, and you could be able to make a claim for compensation.

Road Traffic Accident
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There are about 20,000 road accidents every year on Scotland's roads. Many of these result in painful whiplash injuries to the neck, the effects of which can last from a few weeks to many years. Some accidents result in very serious injuries, or death. Whether you were the driver, passenger or a pedestrian, and whether the accident occurred here or abroad, we can help you get compensation.

Slip or Trip
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Every year hundreds of people are injured slipping on or tripping over things. The cause may be an uneven pavement, a pothole in the road, a trailing wire, an unlit staircase, a patch of oil spilled on the floor, a torn carpet, a frosty car park, and so forth. Such claims are not always easy, but frequently these accidents are caused by the responsible person's carelessness or a broken Health & Safety regulation, in which case you are entitled to damages.

Fatal Accidents
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Many accidents result in the death of the injured person. These cases are different because we are not, of course, acting for the victim, but for the grieving family. We consider not only the suffering the accident has caused them, but also the financial impact of the loss of the dead person's support. In all such cases we act with care and sensitivity at a very sad time.

Industrial Diseases
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Many diseases can be contracted at work due to working practices which have not been properly planned. These include asbestosis, noise induced deafness, dermatitis, vibration white finger, repetitive strain injury, carpal tunnel syndrome, and many others.

Problems with this type of claim can be that the disease was contracted a long time ago, whilst working for an employer who no longer exists. Generally speaking, if you have only discovered that you have contracted a disease due to an employer's carelessness or breach of regulations within the last three years, you should be able to make a claim, and we usually manage to track down the responsible employer’s insurance company, who will be responsible for paying your compensation.

Other Accident Claims
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Most accidents fit fairly neatly into the categories of Road Traffic Accidents, Accidents at Work, and slips and trips. But we have handled thousands of other claims which do not fall into any of these categories. Sports injuries, accidents on buses and trains, attacks by animals etc., all happen quite frequently and you may have a claim.

Another category which should be mentioned is Criminal Injuries. This applies where you have been the victim of a criminal assault. The culprit is usually uninsured and has no money, so a claim against him is pointless. In these cases we can apply on your behalf to a government compensation scheme, and represent you before the Criminal Injuries Tribunal if necessary.

Medical Negligence

Medical negligence is the legal name for claims where a healthcare professional, such as a doctor, dentist, nurse, midwife, etc., has not shown the standard of care and skill you’re entitled to expect. Thankfully, most health professionals give an excellent service. But things sometimes go wrong, and it can happen that patients are injured by treatment which falls below the acceptable standard.

That’s where we come in. We have a team of solicitors who have years of experience in handling medical negligence claims, and can be trusted to give you the correct advice. We also realise how upsetting it can be when medical treatment goes wrong, and you will find us sympathetic and sensitive.

The types of claim we most frequently come across are:

GP’s failure to diagnoseMisdiagnosisNegligent or traumatic operationsClaims against DentistsChildbirth Claims

Our aim in medical negligence claims, as in all Accident Claims, is not just to get you compensation, important though that is, but also to do what we can to ensure that you get the proper support and treatment to rebuild your life.